When electrical characteristics of a device such as IC and LSI (hereinafter, referred to as “device”) formed on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter, referred to as “wafer”) are tested, a probe card having a circuit board and a probe is used. By way of example, a test is carried out by bringing a probe provided on a lower surface of a circuit board into contact with an electrode of a device formed on a wafer.
The electrode is made of conductive metal such as aluminum, for example. Since aluminum is likely to be oxidized, an oxide film as an insulator is formed on a surface of the aluminum. For this reason, if only the probe is brought into contact with the electrode, the oxide film formed on the surface of the electrode cannot be penetrated and electrical connection between the probe and the electrode cannot be obtained. Therefore, at the time of a test of electrical characteristics, in order to obtain the electrical connection between the electrode of the wafer and the probe, after the probe is brought into contact with the electrode, there is performed a so-called “scrub” action in which the wafer is vibrated in a horizontal direction and the oxide film is removed by a tip of the probe.
In this case, by way of example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, a probe 100 includes a cantilever 102 supported by a circuit board 101 and a contactor 103 extended from a free end of the cantilever 102 to a wafer W (see Patent Document 1). Further, while overdrive is applied to press the contactor 103 on an electrode P of the wafer W, the wafer W is vibrated in a horizontal direction, so that an oxide film O on a surface of the electrode P is removed. Accordingly, a tip 104 of the contactor 103 is brought into contact with a conductive portion of the electrode P.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-119024